User reviews

This was as rather cute little 1960s morality play about a friendly Martian who crashes his flying saucer on earth and is discovered by Tim O'Hara, a newspaper reporter. Tim takes him in as his "Uncle" Martin and promises he will harbor him until he can repair his craft and go back to Mars.

Uncle Martin gets his way by his extraordinary telepathic and telekinetic powers. He also is a philosopher, scientist and mind control expert. He never does anything wrong intentionally, but always seems to betray himself by his misunderstanding of the ways of our world. Still, he and Tim are a formidable team and each show always had me chuckling.

The recent movie version isn't even worth commenting on. It was thoroughly putrid and was just a way for the studios to relieve you of your hard-earned dough. Watch ANY remakes of 1960s TV shows at your own peril. You read it here first!

Long before the special effects department established the forefront of future shows like Bewitched,I Dream of Jeannie,or other shows that gave us the magical effect,no other show can topped off the hilarious hijinks of "My Favorite Martian". During its run the show had in my book some of the best special effects ever devised for TV,and for good reason. It may have been hokey or rather silly,but in turn Ray Walston was the genius behind Uncle Martin,who was in fact an alien from another planet who crash lands on Earth only to be discovered by a newspaper man Tim O'Hara,played by Bill Bixby who was after fame and fortune with this.

However,Tim was the only one who knew of Uncle Martin's secret identity,but other folks thought Tim was paranoid since Martin was REALLY a martian! There was other folks who knew what went on including the really nosey neighbor Lorilee Brown(Pamela. Britton) and the detective Bill Brennan(Alan Hewitt) who was always snooping around for answers,but Uncle Martin knew how to take care of them since Uncle Martin always dislikes.

Uncle Martin was always experimenting on stuff. He could defy gravity,and in one episode walk through walls,and the best part make a antenna come out of his head and many more. There were times when Martin lost his powers(in one episode dealt with a bracey kid who zapped his telekinetic powers-funny!)but as always gain them back. Uncle Martin also had the capability to bring up scientific powers in which no one understood but he explained his theory in ways that someone knew how but didn't know themselves.

Basically,all Martin wanted to do was get his spaceship repair and get home,but he never made it although he made several attempts. "My Favorite Martian" lasted three seasons on CBS' Sunday night prime time schedule producing 107. Episodes airing from September 29, 1963 until May 1, 1966. The first two seasons produced 75 episodes in black and white from September 29, 1963 until June 27, 1965 and were filmed at Desilu Studios Hollywood. The third and final season of the series produced 32 episodes in color from September 12, 1965 until May 1, 1966 and was filmed at MGM Studios. However,during the three seasons that it ran on CBS(which came on Sunday nights after Lassie and faced strong competition against NBC's The Wonderful World Of Disney) Tim and Martin had some interesting adventures and it did very well to make the transition to bring some of the color episodes during its final season. The show ended in the Spring of 1966 after 107 episodes.

The show had a Saturday morning cartoon spin-off during the 1970's titled "My Favorite Martians" that aired on CBS' Saturday morning schedule from 1973-1974. A live action theatrical feature starring Christopher Lloyd based on the 1960's television series was released by Disney in the mid 1990's. Revised on July 1, 2023.

Ray Walston used his considerable acting talent & charm to create a hit series. First show, he crashes on earth. His rescue is engineered by Tim (Bill Bixby), a nosy reporter who can't believe what he has seen, & what Martin can do.

This is a family style of sitcom without kids. This show is really the talent of Ray Walston playing off everyone. Bixby is brilliant to as the single reporter who is always getting in trouble thanks to Martin. Many times because of Martin, Tim can't get that Pullitser prize he is after to become a great reporter.

What really makes this series go, is that Uncle Martin always seems to have an unending bag of tricks that only he, a Martian, can do. When we were kids, we got introduced to a friendly alien with this show. Martin would always foil Tim every having a steady girl friend too.

While the special effects seem crude now, when this show ran they were highly imaginative. There was even one episode where Martin put up his antenna & had snowy reception, just like my TV always did with the rabbit ears.

By the early 1960s, as Americans and Soviets orbited the Earth, and the race to place men on the Moon was everyone's favorite after-dinner topic, television had produced a variety of space-oriented shows, mostly stodgy adventures of square-jawed heroes facing the cosmos in fanciful rockets...yet the series that would achieve the greatest popularity didn't feature a human, at all, but a Martian in a crashed 'flying saucer', attempting to 'pass' as human while repairing his spacecraft. Similar in concept to Gore Vidal's "Visit to a Small Planet", "My Favorite Martian" was a sweet-natured comedy with low-budget FX, often silly scripts, but one of the most engaging stars in television history, Ray Walston.

At 49, Walston was well-established on Broadway ("Damn Yankees") and had enjoyed success as a character actor in film (SOUTH PACIFIC, TALL STORY, THE APARTMENT), but, despite guesting on television for ten years, he had never starred in his own series, primarily because he didn't have a traditional leading man 'look'. Small, slender, with a mischievous smile and thin grayish blond hair, he was a hard actor to 'type'...which made him the perfect choice to play an extraterrestrial! "My Favorite Martian" was a wonderful showcase for his many acting skills, and, when teamed with young Bill Bixby, cast as 'Tim O'Hara', a reporter who grows to love his 'Uncle Martin' enough to keep his secret, and offer him a cover and sanctuary, there was a magic that almost leapt from the screen.

Bixby, at 29, had been a regular on "The Joey Bishop Show", but seemed doomed to blandly pleasant supporting roles, until "My Favorite Martian" displayed his remarkable comic timing, and, more importantly, his 'likeability' to television audiences. The series would serve as a springboard to a very successful career on the small screen, that would continue until his tragic death from cancer, at 59, in 1993.

As the series grew in popularity, the role of snooping but endearing landlady Laura Lee Brown (Broadway/movie veteran Pamela Britton) would be enlarged and softened, eventually becoming a romantic interest for Martin, and a new regular, Detective Bill Brennan (character actor Alan Hewitt), a veteran cop suspicious of the O'Hara's, and also enamored of Mrs. Brown, would be introduced. Both actors were great fun in their roles, and provided some very memorable moments, during the second and third seasons.

Among Martin's 'powers' were invisibility (whenever he raised the mini-TV antennas in the back of his head), reading minds, and levitating objects with his finger, as well as limited abilities that would appear and disappear whenever he became ill, ate the wrong foods, etc. But his greatest gift was an understanding heart; despite an occasional aside about the human race's primitive nature, he truly loved our planet, and enjoyed watching us 'mature' over the ages. For an alien, he displayed remarkable humanity!

While Walston enjoyed making "My Favorite Martian", he was not devastated when the program was finally canceled, after three seasons. With some of his finest work still ahead of him (THE STING, "Stephen King's The Stand", "Picket Fences", "Star Trek: The Next Generation", and the classic FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH, just to name a few), he would be revered as one of the entertainment industry's most beloved and respected actors when he passed away, at 87, in 2001.

"My Favorite Martian" transcends the silliness of it's scripts with the talent and charisma of the remarkable cast. It was, and remains, a well-deserved audience favorite.

My Favorite Martian was an amusing comedy of the middle sixties in America that had a nice following. Sad to say that our advances in space travel culminating in the Martian probe rendered syndication of the show practically nil. Still those of us who recall it have some fond memories.

While covering the flight of America's fastest jet at the time, the X-15, reporter Tim O'Hara discovers a crashed Martian vessel with an alien inside. He takes the ship and the alien home with him, realizing he's got the scoop of the century.

It's not as easy as all that as Bill Bixby discovers. As Tim O'Hara, Bixby's your average 20th century American male, trying to earn a living to make money to spend on the women he chases. And he discovers that he rather likes the Martian he's taken in. So he starts referring to Ray Walston as his Uncle Martin.

Walston and Bixby had a marvelous chemistry together which was the secret of the show's success. I enjoyed Ray Walston in everything that man ever did, from the devil in Damn Yankees to his crusty judge in Picket Fences. As for Bixby this was the first of several TV series that established him as a fine light comedian. More serious roles would come later in his career.

Bixby and Walston rent a room over the garage of Mrs. Brown played by Pamela Britton. She was a good hearted soul who accepted Tim's explanation of his newly arrived uncle without question. But always lurking around was Detective Brennan of the LAPD. Alan Hewitt was at his supercilious best. He was jealous because he thought Walston might be moving in on his time with Britton. He was never satisfied with all the explanations he got about Walston. Hewitt's curiosity was the basis for about half the episodes.

Walston was a marvelous alien, over a 1000 years old, an expert in fact on Earth history because he'd made many trips here for research. He could read minds, levitate objects, and with the raise of a couple of antenna from the back of his head, disappear. Some of these things were of inestimable value to Bixby as a reporter.

My Favorite Martian was a cute comedy that sadly will have no basis in truth because of our recent discoveries about Mars. Wouldst we could go there and find a race of Ray Walstons. We could probably learn a lot.

From personal opinion, the 1960s was a great decade for television, seeing shows with creative concepts and memorable characters that fascinated and appealed at the time and still hold up now ('The Addams Family', 'The Munsters', 'Doctor Who', 'Bewitched' and 'I Dream of Jeannie' are just a few examples, have a soft spot for 'Batman' too).

'My Favourite Martian' is another one of those shows. When it comes to sci-fi and comedy, individually and meshed together, 'My Favourite Martian' is a landmark and still holds up as enormously enjoyable. The third season sadly doesn't live up to the high quality of the first two, with story lines that were predictable, repetitive, disjointed (with them having one half of something and then a second half of something else entirely) and got overboard with the silliness to the point of redundancy, also relying on a formula that got stale too early.

With the first two seasons, the story lines were the complete opposite. They were engrossing, imaginative and clever, succeeding as entertainment and provoking thought. Likewise with the hilarious and intelligent writing, with dialogue that makes one laugh and think. The chemistry between the well-defined, the titular character one would go as far to say is iconic, characters is simply magical.

It is impossible to think of anybody else so well suited to the title role than Ray Walston, a role he was born to play. Bill Bixby shows remarkable and perfectly pitched comic timing and works so well with Walston. All the supporting cast are very good, J. Pat O'Malley is particularly fun and Pamela Britton is charming.

Production values don't look too primitive. Although 'My Favourite Martian' does look pretty good in colour, it fares to me better in black and white where things look smoother and more atmospheric. The sets and effects are pretty inventive. The music is a good fit and it is hard to forget the theme music.

Overall, a genre landmark and a near-classic if it weren't for its disappointing last season. The 1999 film that bases itself on this is not worth bothering with, the only emotions one will feel watching it are sheer disappointment, anger and questioning the point of it. 9/10 Bethany Cox

The superb chemistry between Bixby and Walston made this show. A cheap looking sitcom with abysmal special effects for a sci-fi show, the writers must have been taking psychedelic drugs during the third season in color when the stories flew off the rails (a squirrel morphing into a man). Bixby would often behave like a lunatic trying to cover up Martin's "accidents." The laugh track was annoying. The mature landlady Pamela Britton was an early TV example of an attractive middle-aged woman with an understated sex appeal.

During its first two seasons on the air, "My Favorite Martian" often really *did* seem like the story of a Martian anthropologist providing insights into human society. In "We Love You, Miss Pringle" (the show's finest episode), for example, Uncle Martin helps convince a high school graduating class to honor Miss Pringle, one of the toughest (though hardly one of the nicest) teachers at Tim's old school. Martin used his "special abilities" to reveal that she had often helped students in trouble – but always behind the scenes. Or in "Martian Report #1," Martin decided to "study" a little orphan girl because Martian children have no "childhood" -- but when she learned about this and was hurt by it, he was forced to confront that she was a real person with feelings – not just a specimen.

Sadly, by the third season, these "human interest" stories were largely forgotten, and each episode followed a predictable formula: in the first half of the episode, one of Martin's gadgets would wreak some kind of havoc (e.g., he accidentally exchanged his personality for that of Mrs. Brown; he shrank himself into a bottle, and had folks thinking he was a genie when it was opened; he developed a "Midas touch" and turned everything he touched into gold; and so on). The second half of the episodes were then devoted to "undoing the damage" from the first half.

The worst, though, were a series of completely absurd "spy" shows "inspired" by the "Man from U.N.C.L.E." craze in which an organization called "CRUSH" battled a government agency called "TOPSEEK," with Martin and Tim caught in the middle. It was perhaps a useful "filler" idea the first time they used it, but with repetition, these episodes played like live-action cartoons. Even Ray Walston complained about the silliness of many of the third-season scripts.

Despite these occasional shortcomings, though, in many ways this show was ahead of its time: apart from Superman, it was the first show to feature a main character endowed with special abilities, premiering a year before the whole boatload of such shows (Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Mr. Terrific – not to mention the Munsters and the Addams Family) that populated television during the Sixties. Those first two seasons rarely relied on contrived "Martian havoc" to carry the episodes, and instead often had wonderful stories in which the characters acted like real people and Martin's powers or gadgets only incidentally were involved. The concluding scene in the "Miss Pringle" episode or Martin's scenes with the little girl in "Martian Report," for example, had a poignancy rarely found in what was supposed to be a comedy show.

The scripts on the show were also often quite sophisticated; for example, Martin was forever telling Tim it was "no time for levity" – not "jokes," but "levity." Martin's well-developed vocabulary undoubtedly sent more than one viewer scrambling for a dictionary. And one of the few redeeming features of the last season, when Martin and Detective Brennan were always trying oneupmanship, was that they were constantly quoting Shakespeare, Robert Burns, Ben Jonson, or Edgar Allan Poe to one another.

Perhaps most importantly, there was a remarkable chemistry between Bill Bixby and Ray Walston that's evident from the pilot onward. They genuinely seemed to care about one another, and that chemistry made what was otherwise a far-out premise seem, in their capable hands, completely believable. Had they stuck to the human interest stories and not gone in for gadget-driven plots, the show could have lasted a lot longer than it did.

Many of these reviews point out how good, or bad, some of the episodes are, especially the third season being, aside from colour, the worst. To me that's missing the real genius of this show, which is just the sheer fun of watching the wonderful chemistry and performing skills of the two leads, Ray Walston and Bill Bixby. They both went on to other great things, but far as I'm concerned this was their defining moment, who else could have played and looked the part of the quirky Martian better than Ray Walston, and who else could have played the handsome young reporter with such slapstick comedy style better than Bill Bixby, sadly, he was never again given an opportunity to be quite that funny again. It's a make believe bit of nonsense, but we all end up wishing maybe the real world could be a little more like it! To me, that's a classic show!

This is a great series for all viewers to watch. The crew did an alright job in creating this series. The storyline of this series was a bit too straightforward but somehow it worked. The cast selection was alright. They deeply committed to the storyline. The chemistry between the cast members was really strong which helped the series a lot. This series reveals to viewers the importance of teamwork and how it is a major part of the lives of everyone. During my lifetime, no one ever helped me nor wanted me as a part of their team. I have always been alone, bullied, depressed, and hated. I am not even allowed to help anyone. This is a fine series for everyone to watch.

I remember liking this show when I first saw it as a kid. But watching it now as an adult, in reruns, I have to admit that it's pretty dreadful.

Don't get me wrong, the Man-from-Mars concept had potential, and the cast is good, especially Bill Bixby and Ray Walston.

But the scripts and writing are simply terrible!

And the longer the show was on the air, the more awful and illogical the plots became. I didn't see that as a child, but as an adult, the absurd writing is unavoidable.

Granted, one can't expect realism from a fantasy shows like this, but at least "Bewitched" and "I Dream of Jeannie" (from the same era) managed to stay reasonably consistent with the rules they had established for their particular magic.

But "My Favorite Martian" eventually throws all of the rules out the window, and ends up having Martin able to do basically anything they can think of. There is no consistent logic, even within the context of their imaginary universe. And without rules, things quickly go from sci-fi/fantasy to just plain silly.

Alas, 60 years later, the show simply doesn't hold up well.

My Favorite Martian was an enjoyable waste of time. Starring Ray Walston as a man from Mars who had crash-landed on earth, and Bill Bixby, as Tim, the young newspaper reporter who found him. Tim saw dollar signs, fame and fortune in his eyes when he found a Martian, but unfortunately, never did get to tell his story, in spite of the fact that this Martian moved in with him. You see, the Martian, who passed himself off as Tim's Uncle Martin, would not admit to anyone but Tim what he really was, and Tim would have appeared crazy to insist that Martin was REALLY a Martian!

Martin had some interesting powers: he was able to turn invisible by raising some pretty cheesy looking antennae from the back of his head; he could also point at something and make it lift and come to him. He was also able to read minds, and had a vast knowledge of technology. Apparently the Martians were much more advanced than we were.

The show lasted for three seasons on CBS, giving lots of time for Tim and Martin to have some interesting adventures, all the while trying to repair his ship and return home to Mars. Like ALF some years later though, he never quite made it.

Ray Walston was a treasure, and in My Favorite Martian Bill Bixby began a long run of successful TV series. The combination here was inspired.

Like so many well-written 60s comedies, it appeals on two levels. As a kid, I took most of the stories seriously and only laughed at the slapstick. As an adult, I get the jokes the wrote at an adult level.

But as either a kid or an adult, I have fun trying to figure out which of Uncle Martin's Martian abilities he'll use, and how, to solve each show's particular problem. Of course, sometimes his abilities get them into worse problems, such as when he read the oil shiek's mind and the shiek considered he might be a spy.

I've never seen an episode I didn't enjoy.

This was one of the fantasy themed situation comedies of the 1960's and it is ranked with the other television sitcoms as "The Munsters", "Bewitched", "I Dream Of Jeannie", "My Mother The Car", "The Flying Nun", "The Beverly Hillbillies",and "Gilligan's Island" just to name a few that came from that decade. The half hour science fiction-situation comedy series "My Favorite Martian" premiered at a time when science fiction themed shows were the norm at the time where it combined comedy with out of the world special effects.

"My Favorite Martian" aired for three seasons on CBS' Sunday night prime time schedule where it was between "Lassie", and "The Ed Sullivan Show" and went up against strong competition with "The Wonderful World Of Disney " during its run. The series was the brainchild of creator and producer John L. Greene along with producer Jack Chertok and executive producer Harry Poppe, "My Favorite Martian" premiered on September 29, 1963 and lasted until May 1, 1966. The series was produced by Jack Chertok Productions in association with the CBS Television Network. A total of 107 episodes were produced with the first two seasons produced and filmed in black and white while the third and final season of the series was produced and filmed in color. A total of 75 episodes were produced in black and white from September 29, 1963 until June 27, 1965 and was filmed in Hollywood at Desilu Studios for Seasons 1-2. The third and final season of the series produced 32 episodes in color from September 12, 1965 until May 1, 1966 and was filmed at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios.

The series starred Ray Walston(of "South Pacific", "The Apartment") and Bill Bixby(of "The Joey Bishop Show", and "The Courtship Of Eddie's Father ")along with Pamela Britton, Alan Hewitt, and J. Pat O'Malley. A human looking extraterrestrial in a one man spaceship collides with an Air Force rocket plane as it crashes nearby. A newspaper reporter locates the spaceship nearby and rescues the man from his spaceship whose secret identity is kept confidential between the reporter and the human looking extraterrestrial who goes by the name of "Uncle Martin". Only the reporter knows who he really is and the reporter treats him as part of the family never to reveal his identity as a Martian from another planet.as he attempts to rebuild his spaceship while being watched under the eyes of the police detective Bill Brennan whom Uncle Martin dislikes. The Martin's next door neighbor is the nosey Lorelei Brown.

This half hour comedy series had some impressive special effects of it day while providing the hilarious hijinks that follows in every episode. Top named directors from Sheldon Leonard(who directed the pilot episode) to Leslie Goodwins, Oscar Rudolph, James Komack, Sidney Miller, David Alexander, Jean Yarbrough, Alan Rafkin, James Kern to Bryon Paul contribute to some of the episodes. The best episodes were the pilot episode "My Favorite Martin", followed with"The Matchmaker" to "There Is No Cure For The Common Martian", "Man On The Couch", "Dreaming Can Make It So",to the two part episode "Go West Young Martian" that were among the others that made this series stand out even after 60 years later it still entertains.

Tim O'Hara, played by Bill Bixby, sees an object crash while he is driving down a winding road in LA. Going down a ravine, Tim finds a flying saucer and a human unconscious. Ah, but that's no human; it's a Martian! Played by Ray Walton, he tells Tim he's been to earth many times over the last 600 years... Haha. This is the first time he's been shot down. Could Tim please take him to rest at the reporters home and hide his spaceship while it's being repaired? Yes! But, as a lowly reporter for the LA Sun, Tim lives in apartment above a garage where the landlady lives right next door with 2 other nosey females. Calling him his Uncle Martin, Tim soon has the alien feeling better but parts for the ship may take awhile. So, Martin is here on earth to put up with a landladys crush, scientists who get space wrong, the FBI, hot LA weather and more. Only Tim knows Martin can become invisible at times, move objects with his mind, talk to animals and more. Can they keep their big secret from the world? This charming sitcom features 2 fine foils in Walston and Bixby and a fun premise. Created at a time when Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Mr. Ed and other fantasy comedies were in vogue, it still charms with its unique take on a Stranger in a strange land. I started from Episode One on the wonderful Tubi and I'm not stopping until I reach the end! You should do the same.

Just from watching and comparing shows in each decade, it seems like television in the 60s revolved around silly, absurd, and whimsical elements, like characters who could perform magic or had superpowers. I wonder if it had something to do with all of the turmoil that was going on in society at the time, with the civil rights movement and Vietnam War. Writers might've figured people wanted a vacation from reality when they watched TV in the evening after a long day. Considering we're still living in the midst of confusion (well, I do believe there's a lot of positive stuff happening that doesn't get covered on the news. But nonetheless, we're inundated with scary headlines), our brains could use a break now more than ever. My Favorite Martian is the tale of Los Angeles Sun reporter Tim O'Hara (Bill Bixby), who, on his way home from Edwards Air Force Base, where he had reported on the flight of the US Air Force's rocket plane, the North American X-15, witnesses a silver spaceship crash land, which was the same one that almost collided with the X-15. An extraterrestrial who looks like an adult male human comes out, and Tim decides to take him back to his place. To avoid panic in the public, he tells everybody the alien is his uncle, whom he calls Uncle Martin. What ensues is a series of mishaps and misunderstandings from Uncle Martin's powers, like having telepathic abilities and levitating objects, that provide substantial laughs. Yeah, it's dumb, but it's also hilarious. And quite delightful. Despite not being his real uncle, Tim and Martin start to form a bond with each other. It's a great show if you just need something to relax and veg out to.

'My Favorite Martian' rapidly became a must-see for me once the first episode premiered on Australian television. It was cutting-edge SF-comedy in a class of its own at the time, decades before 'Third Rock from the Sun' appeared. Ray Walston was born to play Uncle Martin, just as Jonathan Harris was born to play Dr Smith! He and Bill Bixby worked well together and their relationship in some way reminded me of George Reeves and Jack Larson - 'Superman' and Jimmy Olsen'. Their teamwork gave an extra dimension to an often paper-thin script. I still have my autographed photo and the unique envelope it came in though once again (as happened with Connie Hines), the postman folded the envelope and cracked the emulsion. I almost cried at the time!

Great special effects and soundtrack. Awesome stunts

I first saw this series when I was 12 years old and I have dearly loved it ever since because it's full of good laughs and is a great deal of fun to watch. Uncle Martin is hilarious with his Martian antics as well as Tim as the newspaper reporter who took him in after his space ship crash landed on Earth. It's always highly enjoyable to watch their adventures together. It's easily one of my favorite TV comedies of all time.

I recently came across episodes of this show on Youtube. It is especially memorable for me because it was telecast during the same years I was in college, starting in 1963.

The overwhelming feeling watching these old episodes again is "how easily we were entertained back in the 1960s." It was a different time, shows were more family oriented, sexual references were very indirect, and there was no objectionable "blue" language.

Ray Walston was the title character who became known as Uncle Martin to avoid revealing where he really was from. After his Martian craft crashed, he was found by Bill Bixby as columnist Tim O'Hara who took him and his damaged spacecraft in. Much of Martin's thrust is to get his craft repaired so he can return home. Other than that each of the 107 episodes was acting out some humorous situation.

Fun TV series, brings back good memories.

I have recently started watching this show again since it airs every afternoon on the Vision channel. At first it looked so old and the special effects were not so special anymore, but it still has a certain charm. Having a 'Martian' looking at the world of the 1960s, let viewers see their world thru fresh eyes. I found it very interesting that back in that era when the Cold War was still active, that we got to see and cheer on someone trying to thwart the authorities and fool people. Most people would not be supporting an 'alien' at that time. Great show and a good trip back to the early sixties. Bixby and Walston were perfect in their roles.